[SOLVED] Is my computer from 2001 powerful enough to share videos via Samba over my WiFi?

[Root602]

Hi everyone,

I have an old desktop tower from 2001 that has a Pentium P4 1.6Ghz, 256MB RAM and 40GB hard drive and a Geforce 2 MX 400. I want to install a Linux distro like Lubuntu or another lightweight distro and then create a Samba share on it and share my home videos over my local WiFi. I plan on attaching a USB hard drive and putting the Samba folder on there. Is my computer powerful enough to do this?

 

[OrlyP]

How many people are going to use it concurrently and what types of media do you plan to share?

Computers of that era may only have FastEthernet (10/100mbps) and USB 1.0/1.1 or at most 2.0 ports.

What's going for you is that you already have it. There's no harm trying it out yourself.

 

[lvt]

How will you attach a HDD via USB to your PC?

 

[TerryLaze]

Just get a router with a USB port that has share, if your router doesn't already have it.
It's going to be much faster, more stable and will use much less power.

How will you attach a HDD via USB to your PC?

Like any normal person probably, by using an external usb hard drive.

 

[lvt]

Like any normal person probably, by using an external usb hard drive.

Why don't you use an internal HDD instead?

External 3.5" HDD usually require a power source, so you'll have to use an adapter?

 

[TerryLaze]

Why don't you use an internal HDD instead?

External 3.5" HDD usually require a power source, so you'll have to use an adapter?

A P4 computer will only have ide controllers so you would have to find a sata controller board that would be able to run on such an old computer and it would still be very slow, so external is just way easier even if it needs extra power, which 2.5" drives don't even need.